On Arcs, Arrows, and Eating with One’s Hands as if There’s No Tomorrow: Some Notes on Bonnie Honig’s A Feminist Theory of Refusal

Abstract

In this essay, I explore some key notions in Bonnie Honig's A Feminist Theory of Refusal. Juxtaposing her speculative reading of Euripides' Bacchae to Ursula K Le Guin's essay on the 'Carrier Bag Theory of Storytelling,' I argue that the women in the tragedy can be considered neither as imitating masculine, violent hunter-heroes, nor as surreptiously embodying feminine, caring gatherer-mothers. Following their refusal to care and to think about tomorrow, I conclude by suggesting that a critical fabulation of the women's acts of refusal should steer clear from expecting them to inspire us, as contemporary feminists.